LeT a serious threat to UK, US as Qaeda: CIA

[Dilli]

NDTV.com : Terror Strikes

LeT a serious threat to UK, US as Qaeda: CIA

Terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, accused of masterminding the Mumbai massacre, is as dangerous a threat to Britain and the United States as Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida, according to a former top-ranking CIA officer.

"In the aftermath of the Mumbai attack, the US and the UK intelligence services now have to regard Lashkar-e-Taiba as just as serious a threat to both of our countries as Al-Qaida. They have a much more extensive base among Pakistani diaspora communities in the UK than Al-Qaida," Bruce Riedel told 'The Sunday Telegraph' newspaper.
Meanwhile, in a bid to prevent a Mumbai-like manyhem on American soil, the CIA is said to have launched a massive spying operation in Britain and it has recruited a number of informants in the Pakistani community for the purpose.

According to the newspaper, the CIA believes that a British extremist of Pakistani origin entering the US is the most likely source of a terror attack on America.

Riedel, who served three US Presidents as a Middle East expert on the White House National Security Council, said not only LeT, the British Pakistani community is recognised as Al-Qaida's best mechanism for launching an attack on Amercia.

"The American security establishment believes that danger continues and there's very intimate cooperation between our security services to monitor that. The Americans run their own assets in Pakistani community they get their intelligence.

"There is close cooperation with MI5 but they don't tell us the names of all their sources. Around 40 per cent of CIA activity on homeland threats is now in the UK. This is quite unprecedented," he was quoted as saying.


_____________________________________________________________

Because of this, some innocents also have to go through the agony.

 

[srijeesh]

I hope CIA is upto something to counter LET, just like queda.

 

[Vinod2070]

There was a program to disallow the visa waiver for these guys earlier. What happened to that?

 

[Omar1984]

NDTV Indian news source. Moderators please close this thread. Source is indian therefore unreliable.

This crazy Mumabi fever is running throughout the forum..just put all the Mumbai news in India-Pakistan crisis..thats what the section was made for.

 

[Dilli]

^^^^^ This is not Mumbai case news. The news is about suspected terrorists, who according to CIA are mostly of Pakistani origin. Plz stay on the topic and give your inputs.

Thanks.

 

[srijeesh]

btw, why is LET a threat to west, when it is 'fighting for the freedom of kashmir' strictly within 'kashmir'?

so, finally the world is waking up to the reality of 'freedom fighters'.

 

[Dilli]

Originally Posted by srijeesh
reality of 'freedom fighters'.

Little correction Bro.

reality of SO-CALLED 'freedom fighters'.

 

[srijeesh]

Little correction Bro.

ha ha yeah......
anyway, they wont be called that anymore.

 

[Skywalker]

NDTV.com : Terror Strikes

LeT a serious threat to UK, US as Qaeda: CIA

Terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, accused of masterminding the Mumbai massacre, is as dangerous a threat to Britain and the United States as Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida, according to a former top-ranking CIA officer.

"In the aftermath of the Mumbai attack, the US and the UK intelligence services now have to regard Lashkar-e-Taiba as just as serious a threat to both of our countries as Al-Qaida. They have a much more extensive base among Pakistani diaspora communities in the UK than Al-Qaida," Bruce Riedel told 'The Sunday Telegraph' newspaper.
Meanwhile, in a bid to prevent a Mumbai-like manyhem on American soil, the CIA is said to have launched a massive spying operation in Britain and it has recruited a number of informants in the Pakistani community for the purpose.

According to the newspaper, the CIA believes that a British extremist of Pakistani origin entering the US is the most likely source of a terror attack on America.

Riedel, who served three US Presidents as a Middle East expert on the White House National Security Council, said not only LeT, the British Pakistani community is recognised as Al-Qaida's best mechanism for launching an attack on Amercia.

"The American security establishment believes that danger continues and there's very intimate cooperation between our security services to monitor that. The Americans run their own assets in Pakistani community they get their intelligence.

"There is close cooperation with MI5 but they don't tell us the names of all their sources. Around 40 per cent of CIA activity on homeland threats is now in the UK. This is quite unprecedented," he was quoted as saying.


_____________________________________________________________

Because of this, some innocents also have to go through the agony.

The only thing I could about this article is haha hoho hehe......what a waste of energy to even discuss on an Indian **** source.

 

[Captain03]

wheres the source?
and if ur source is the indian media than god help u

 

[rubyjackass]

They quoted this.



CIA warns Barack Obama that British terrorists are the biggest threat to the US
Barack Obama has been warned by the CIA that British Islamist extremists are the greatest threat to US homeland security.


By Tim Shipman in Washington
Last Updated: 9:08PM GMT 07 Feb 2009
Barack Obama with CIA Director-designate Leon Panetta: CIA warns Barack Obama that British terrorists are the biggest threat to the US
The CIA has told President Barack Obama that British terrorists are the biggest threat to the US

American spy chiefs have told the President that the CIA has launched a vast spying operation in the UK to prevent a repeat of the 9/11 attacks being launched from Britain.

They believe that a British-born Pakistani extremist entering the US under the visa waiver programme is the most likely source of another terrorist spectacular on American soil.

Intelligence briefings for Mr Obama have detailed a dramatic escalation in American espionage in Britain, where the CIA has recruited record numbers of informants in the Pakistani community to monitor the 2,000 terrorist suspects identified by MI5, the British security service.

A British intelligence source revealed that a staggering four out of 10 CIA operations designed to thwart direct attacks on the US are now conducted against targets in Britain.

And a former CIA officer who has advised Mr Obama told The Sunday Telegraph that the CIA has stepped up its efforts in the last month after the Mumbai massacre laid bare the threat from Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group behind the attacks, which has an extensive web of supporters in the UK.

The CIA has already spent 18 months developing a network of agents in Britain to combat al-Qaeda, unprecedented in size within the borders of such a close ally, according to intelligence sources in both London and Washington.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who has advised Mr Obama, told The Sunday Telegraph: "The British Pakistani community is recognised as probably al-Qaeda's best mechanism for launching an attack against North America.

"The American security establishment believes that danger continues and there's very intimate cooperation between our security services to monitor that." Mr Riedel, who served three presidents as a Middle East expert on the White House National Security Council, added: "President Obama's national security team are well aware that this is a serious threat."

The British official said: "The Americans run their own assets in the Pakistani community; they get their own intelligence. There's close cooperation with MI5 but they don't tell us the names of all their sources.

"Around 40 per cent of CIA activity on homeland threats is now in the UK. This is quite unprecedented."

Explaining the increase in CIA activity over the past month, Mr Riedel added: "In the aftermath of the Mumbai attack the US and the UK intelligence services now have to regard Lashkar-e-Taiba as just as serious a threat to both of our countries as al-Qaeda. They have a much more extensive base among Pakistani Diaspora communities in the UK than al–Qaeda."

Information gleaned by CIA spies in Britain has already helped thwart several terrorist attacks in the UK and was instrumental in locating Rashid Rauf, a British-born al-Qaeda operative implicated in a plot to explode airliners over the Atlantic, who was tracked down and killed in a US missile strike in November.

But some US intelligence officers are irritated that valuable manpower and resources have been diverted to the UK. One former intelligence officer who does contract work for the CIA dismissed Britain as a "swamp" of jihadis.

Jonathan Evans, the director general of MI5, admitted in January that the Security Service alone does not have the resources to maintain surveillance on all its targets. "We don't have anything approaching comprehensive coverage," he said.

The dramatic escalation in CIA activity in the UK followed the exposure in August 2006 of Operation Overt, the alleged airline bomb plot.

The British intelligence official revealed that CIA chiefs sent more resources to the UK because they were not prepared to see American citizens die as a result of MI5's inability to keep tabs on all suspects, even though the Security Service successfully uncovered the plot.

MI5 manpower will have doubled to 4,100 by 2011 but many in the US intelligence community do not think that is enough.

For their part, some British officials are queasy that information obtained by the CIA from British Pakistanis was used to help target Mr Rauf, a British citizen, whom they would have preferred to capture and bring to trial.

Sensitivities over the intelligence arrangement formed a key part of briefings given to Mr Obama, since they are central to what is often called "the most special part of the special relationship" and could complicate his dealings with Gordon Brown.

Tensions in transatlantic intelligence relations which were laid bare last week during the High Court battle over Binyam Mohamed, the British resident held in Guanatanamo Bay. British judges wanted to publish details of the torture administered to Mr Mohamed, an Ethiopian national, in US custody. But key paragraphs were blacked out after American officials threatened it could damage intelligence sharing between the two countries.

Intelligence experts said that a trusting intelligence relationship, in which one country does not publish intelligence data obtained by the other, is vital to both countries' national security.

Patrick Mercer, chairman of the House of Commons counter-terrorism sub-committee, said: "The special relationship is a huge benefit to us. It clearly works to our advantage and helps keep the people of the UK and the US safe.

"There is no doubt that a great deal of valuable intelligence vital to British national security is procured by American agents from British sources."

Mr Riedel added: "The partnership between the two intelligence communities is dynamic; it is one of great intimacy. We overuse the term special relationship, but this is an extraordinarily special relationship.

"Since September 11 the philosophy on both sides has been to err on the side of telling each other more rather than less. It is in everyone's interests that that continues."

 

[kenchabhai]

The original news was carried by Sunday Telegraph.

Here is a Pakistani news report.
Laskhar as big a threat to US, Britain as Al Qaeda, CIA tells Obama

London, Feb 8 (IANS) The CIA has told President Barack Obama that British-born Pakistani terrorists, who have extensive contacts with Lashkar-e-Taiba, are the biggest threat to the US, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

American spy chiefs have told the president that the Central Intelligence Agency has launched a vast spying operation in Britain to prevent a repeat of the 9/11 attacks being launched from Britain, the paper said.

It said spy chiefs believe that a British-born Pakistani extremist entering the US under a current visa waiver programme for all Britons is the most likely source of another terrorist spectacular on American soil.

A former CIA officer who has advised Obama told The Sunday Telegraph that the CIA has stepped up its British operations after the November Mumbai massacre by the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has an extensive web of supporters in Britain, and is now as big a threat to the US and Britain as the Al Qaeda.

Bruce Riedel told the paper: “The British Pakistani community is recognised as probably Al-Qaeda’s best mechanism for launching an attack against North America.”

“The Americans run their own assets in the Pakistani community; they get their own intelligence. There’s close cooperation with MI5 but they don’t tell us the names of all their sources.

“Around 40 percent of CIA activity on homeland threats is now in the UK. This is quite unprecedented,” he added.

Explaining the increase in CIA activity over the past month, Riedel added: “In the aftermath of the Mumbai attack the US and the UK intelligence services now have to regard Lashkar-e-Taiba as just as serious a threat to both of our countries as al-Qaeda.

“They have a much more extensive base among Pakistani diaspora communities in the UK than Al-Qaeda.”

 

[Dilli]

wheres the source?
and if ur source is the indian media than god help u

Thanku for lobbying God to be with us.

And NDTV is not a biased source. And in case here are some other sources>

The Guardian, UK
CIA warns Barack Obama that British terrorists are the biggest threat to the US - Telegraph

I hope u guys belive in Pakistani papers atleast....
Good, here is one.....
Laskhar as big a threat as Al Qaeda: former CIA official (Lead) | Sindh Today

 

[Dilli]

most probably Bruce Riedel said that. he is known to be pro-indian.

from wikipedia:

"Riedel previously served as a policy adviser to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
Bruce is considered to be the reason behind Barack Obama's Hawkish views on Pakistan and his Pro India leanings on Kashmir."

I think you are new to this forum.

Wikipedia links are not taken as authentic on this forum. They can be manipulated by anyone.

So the guys here dont trust it.

Hope u are able to bring some other credible source.

Thanks.

 

[srijeesh]

if CIA is so sure, then maybe british pakistanis should be banned from entering US.

btw, wat happened to the theory that terrorism comes only because of oppression. wat oppression is pakistani diaspora suffering in britain?